


Starting Over

by china_shop



Category: White Collar
Genre: Episode Related, Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-14
Updated: 2013-11-14
Packaged: 2018-01-01 10:52:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1043953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/china_shop/pseuds/china_shop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clinton gives Peter a reality check.</p><p>Episode tag for 5.04. SPOILERS!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starting Over

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mergatrude](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mergatrude/gifts).



> Many thanks to mergatrude for the prompt and for beta. <3 <3 <3

Clinton found Peter in the conference room, where he was working through the endless paperwork that seemed to come with being ASAC. Peter glanced up as he entered and then went right back to signing forms, over and over like a wind-up toy.

Clinton closed the door but stayed where he was, with the table between them. He put his hands on his hips, then let them fall to his sides, then slid them into his pockets. He wasn't sure of the best approach to take. Neal would've known, but Clinton was about to question Neal's methods—something Peter might well take personally, in light of their close working relationship—so Neal was the last person he could ask.

Clinton figured he'd start out casual and take it from there. "Hey, Peter. You got a minute?"

"Shoot," said Peter, without looking up. 

"The Summers case," said Clinton.

"Mm-hm."

"Caffrey drugged the psychiatrist to get a confession?"

Peter's head came up sharply. "Who said that?"

"I read the report, and Caffrey being Caffrey—" The report had been carefully worded, but Clinton wasn't a probie. He could read between the lines.

"You must have misread. Mara Summers mistakenly switched the bottles and drugged herself." 

"You don't believe that." Clinton narrowed his eyes. "Look, okay, she drugged him before. I guess he was getting revenge, but don't you think we should be—"

"We were dealing with an expert manipulator," interrupted Peter. "The chances of a voluntary confession were slim to none."

Clinton's heart sank. "Wait. You planned this together?"

"Neal went in to talk to Summers, to find out where she'd hidden the money. She poured her water from the wrong bottle and drugged herself." Peter pressed his lips together. "It's a federal investigation, not a conspiracy."

Dammit, why did Diana have to choose now of all times to be on maternity leave? "Peter—"

"Was there something else?" There was a reserve in Peter's manner, a weariness that had settled in during the Siegel investigation and showed no sign of abating. But sympathetic as Clinton was, he couldn't let this pass without comment.

"Drugging suspects, framing them—" He shook his head. "That's not what we do."

"She would have got away with it." Peter pushed back his chair and stood up, folding his arms. He was still holding his pen. "She was brainwashing criminals into repeat offending. She—"

"She drugged Neal." Clinton understood the anger, the frustration. "And we had his tox screen. We could have taken her down for that alone."

"And Griffith, the two million—?"

"We would have found something. We would have got a warrant and searched her apartment and her accounts. Interviewed her other patients. You know Jacoby had every incentive to flip. We would have pieced together a case and made it stick."

"It was the right thing to do."

"No." Clinton's hands had found their way to his hips. "We have to uphold the law if we're going to enforce it."

"Neal's a criminal informant. The same rules don't apply to him—"

"Peter, you conspired with him to commit a crime, and now you've got a win on the books." Clinton took a deep breath, aware he'd just crossed a big damned line, but Peter was too defensive to have noticed. Clinton sighed and added quietly, "You want to talk about repeat offending—what message does this kind of thing send Caffrey?"

Peter's gaze flew to meet his, and Clinton flinched inwardly at the pain in his eyes. Peter, so damned afraid he might be leading Neal astray.

"I'm just saying, you need to be careful." It was time to back off. He'd said what needed to be said, and he'd got through. Whatever came next, it had to be Peter's call. "I've got your back, Peter. If that means letting you know when things are getting out of hand—"

"Thank you," said Peter, and for a second, it was impossible to tell if it was a gruff dismissal or genuine gratitude. Then his face softened. "You're a good man, Jones, and a good agent. I want you to know I value that."

"You're the best boss I ever had," said Clinton honestly. He looked at his watch. "Maybe you should call it a night before that carpal tunnel sets in."

"Yeah." Peter scrubbed his hand over his face and let out a deep breath. "Yeah. It's a new day tomorrow. We're going to need our wits about us if we want to get it right."

 

END

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Starting Over (podfic)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1052901) by [mergatrude](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mergatrude/pseuds/mergatrude)




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